Calendar
by aevee
Summary: Shizuru has numbered days. Natsuki’s having trouble counting. ShizuruNatsuki, avec un peu de fluff. AU, Mai HiME without the HiME
1. an accident

_15._

She sat across the room from me.

A creak. The drapes fluttered. She sat and sipped her tea.

"Why?"

She smiled. That smile, she had that dumb 'I know what you're talking about but I'll just make myself an airhead, shall I?' smile on her face again. She sat and smiled and sipped her tea.

"Why?!"

"Why what?"

I was standing, an abrupt motion that she seemed to find amusing. She knew what I was going to do. Before I reached her desk, she stopped sipping from her cup and held out the delicate piece of ceramic. It enraged me, her simple motion of yielding and admitting defeat when she was so far from it. I ignored the cup and instead closed my fingers around her necktie, wrenching the silky red ribbon from beneath the folded lapels of her pristine white Oxford.

"You know what. Why are you doing this? Why are you putting up this… this _act_?"

Her eyes rested on the scarf in my clenched hand, watching as the carefully pressed silk crumpled in my grip. With a measured look, she held her tea cup out beside her, over the polished tiles of the Student Council Headquarters floor.

"Act?" she murmured, smiling.

A swift tilt of her hand sent the opening of her tea cup downward. Green tea spilled onto the faded beige tiles.

"Whoever said I was acting?"


	2. a whisper

_28._

She runs her fingers through my hair again, making sure all the strands are fully soaked.

"They're wet, Natsuki."

She grunts, but continues to run her hand through my hair, waving the showerhead back and forth in controlled sweeps. I have yet to get my face wet.

"Natsuki."

"Shut up."

She doesn't mean it, the look on her face is proof enough. I smile.

"Pass me the shampoo."

I reach to my side and scrabble briefly before closing my fingers around the bottle. She takes it from my raised hand.

"How much do you usually use?"

I shrug.

"However much Natsuki chooses is fine."

She grunts again.

"Shizuru."

I can't help it but laugh. She grits her teeth, flicks open the lid of the shampoo bottle, and haphazardly squeezes out an arbitrary amount of creamy liquid into the palm of her free hand. She shoves the shampoo bottle at me.

"Close it."

I do. She slaps a bit of the shampoo onto the top of my head and slaps the rest somewhere else in my tan strands. With a rough kind of gentleness, she begins to lather.

"If it hurts," she starts, "say something."

I smile.

"I will."

"Good."

I close my eyes. Before I fully drift off to sleep, I hear Natsuki's voice, somewhere distantly near.

"Don't die on me now, Shizuru. Don't die on me now."


	3. a request

_3._

"Come on, Natsuki!"

She smiled a genuinely happy smile and beckoned me forward. I frowned, both from the spreading feeling of guilt in my gut and from the curling displeasure that was in me.

"Why are we doing this, Shizuru? Don't you have forms to fill out, tea to sip?"

She laughed at my sour prod at her life as Fuka Gakuen's kaichou-sama.

"In fact, I do, Natsuki. But you promised me this day."

She turned and reached out with a hand to grasp mine. I tried to pull away, but she tightened her grip and I found myself gazing into her maple eyes. Her maple puppy dog eyes.

"Shizuru…"

"But Natsuki promised!"

I gaped.

"I promised! **_I_ **promised!"

Shizuru smiled and turned, hair fanning out behind her and brushing the tip of my nose.

"Yes, Natsuki. You promised after I let you off from detention for being late again."

Shit.

"And anyway," she continued, "we're friends, aren't we? Friends spend time with each other."

I yanked my hand out from hers and stopped walking. Shizuru, noticing my abrupt stop, turned to face me with a questioning look.

"Natsuki?"

"We're not friends."

She had a confused look on her face. A Fujino Shizuru confused look.

"Sorry?"

I couldn't help it. Too many things, too many stabbing words. I couldn't take her genuineness, her care, her...

"We're... not friends."

It was like she didn't understand what I was saying, as though I was speaking in a foreign language.

"Natsuki, I don't think I---"

"Shut up, Shizuru. I know you understand what I'm saying. You're not stupid, which is why you should know that going on like this isn't going to work, it isn't going to help you achieve anything."

"Achieve... anything?"

"Stop playing dumb!"

A crowd was gathering as Shizuru looked helplessly at me. Or at least, that was what it looked like to other people. Shizuru wasn't looking helplessly at me. She knew exactly what she wanted and exactly how she was going to get it. She was Fujino Shizuru, that was how things worked with her.

I could almost feel the waves of disapproval radiating from the crowd of bystanders that were staring at us. I turned to tell them to screw off, but Shizuru beat me to it.

"Please," she whispered, looking down at the floor as though she was hiding tears, "please leave us alone."

They dispersed, some walking up to her to pat her on the shoulder, others glaring at me as they walked away. I glared back and they scurried off, tails between their legs.

I turned and began to head towards the exit of the movie theatre.

"Natsuki."

Her voice was calm, devoid of everything.

"Yes?"

"Please. Just this once. Please?"

I could feel her breath on my ear as she strode up and stood behind me. I sighed.

"Fine. But we're not friends, got it? We're not friends."


	4. a shower

_20._

The steam is suffocating.

"Natsuki, how hot did you have the water for your shower?"

She looks at me, exasperated, before turning her attention back to the mirror in front of her, and to the task of combing her wet hair.

"Does it matter? Just shower, Shizuru."

I can tell she's uncomfortable. Though combing hair is a task that requires only one hand, the other needn't be clamped tightly around one's towel, right?

"Is your towel too loose, Natsuki?"

She looks up as though she's been electrocuted.

"W-w-what?"

"Your towel. Would you like me to tighten it for you?"

I advance, smiling benignly, my arms outstretched. Natsuki desperately seeks escape, scrambling and dropping her brush.

"Shizuru! Get away! Stop!"

In the process of running away, the previously tight towel does in fact come loose, and begins to slide down Natsuki's toned torso. She lets out a squeal and quickly grasps at the fleeing towel.

"Get away! Turn around, Shizuru, turn around!"

She's blushing furiously.

"Ara... Natsuki's face is like a tomato..."

"SHIZURU!"

I shrug and smile.

"As Natsuki wishes."

I turn around and wait. The sounds of Natsuki adjusting her towel cover up the silence between us. Without looking back, I murmur, "Natsuki is such a cute prude."

I can imagine her expression, anger and disbelief and a shade of logic-defying red tainting her skin. I laugh, and I haven't even managed a peek at her yet.

"Shu... shut up."

I laugh again, I can't help it. Natsuki really is too cute.

By the time Natsuki's finally let me turn around and resume my trek to the shower, I've decided. I walk up to her, gently kiss her cheek, and prance away.

"W-what was that for!"

"To prove that Natsuki is a prude."

Her face is burning.

"Am not!"

"Really?"

"Really."

"Are you sure?"

She seems to sense there's something askew, but she can't seem to place it. Her face is a mask of suspicion.

"Yes, Shizuru. I'm not a prude."

"All right then."

I drop my towel.

"Shi-Shi-SHIZURU!"


	5. a name

_1._

"Fujino! Fujino Shizuru! GET BACK HERE!"

She quickened her pace, coming as close to running as she'd ever done in her entire life.

"FUJINO!"

"Ara... Fujino-san is running..."

I'd expected her to at least look at Kanzaki Reito as she passed him, but she didn't. His comment slid past her as she literally threw herself through the Student Council Headquarters door. Before she could slam the wooden sliding door shut, I slipped my foot into the remaining space, wincing as the door did indeed come crushing into the side of my foot.

"Fujino, open up!"

"Ara... Natsuki's foot..."

She looked down with concern, but didn't make any move to release the pressure of the door on my foot.

"If you're so worried about my foot, why don't you stop crushing it with the door!"

Her face, despite being closed up before, became even more guarded. She frowned.

"If I open the door, Natsuki will come in. I have a lot of work to do, you know. I am Fuka Gakuen's kaichou."

As Shizuru talked, she unconsciously let up a little on the door. I took my chance and immediately threw myself against it, attempting to pry it open.

"Natsuki! Stop!"

"Forget it. Either you let me in willingly, or I'll break the door and come in anyway."

She shook her head and pushed against me. The door creaked ominously.

"Natsuki, let go, you'll break the door!"

"I don't care. You owe me an explanation, Fujino, and I'm not leaving until I get it, broken door or not."

For a moment, the two of us continued to struggle. Students who were walking in the hallway began to stop and gather to watch as the ever calm and composed Fujino Shizuru-sama childishly fought to close a door. Eventually, she gave up and let go. I stumbled forward, momentarily surprised at the sudden loss of opposing force.

"I don't want to have to pay for a new door," Shizuru said, glaring at me, "but that doesn't mean I will be entertaining questions. Natsuki can sit over there. I have to work."

I glared at her.

"What do you take me for, a kindergartener? I'm not going to sit over there in the corner just because you tell me to. I came to get answers, and you're going to give them to me."

Shizuru, as though she hadn't heard my outburst, turned and sat down at her desk.

"Fujino!"

She didn't flinch when I slammed my hands onto her desk, angered. In fact, she didn't react at all. She simply reached into her bag and pulled out several folders of forms and paperwork.

"I have to work, Natsuki." she said airily.

One simple statement, and it was as though she'd completely blown me off. She reached for a pen from her stash at the corner of the desk, but I knocked the cup of writing utensils away and onto the floor before she could reach it. Her eyes immediately darkened.

"Natsuki. Pick those up."

"No."

"Pick them up."

"No!"

"NATSUKI!"

She was standing, glaring at me angrily and clutching at the side of the desk in barely controlled fury. It seemed as though, for the first time in her entire life, Fujino Shizuru had lost her cool.

"Why do you want to hide it so badly, Fujino? Was yesterday something that wasn't supposed to happen? Was it something that no-one was supposed to find out about?"

"Yes, that's exactly what it was! If you know, then why are you bothering me about it!"

She knocked all her paperwork off her desk and stomped off to the other side of the room. I stood still, staring at the back of her head.

"Fujino, you were the one who wanted to go out yesterday. You were the one who insisted on dragging me to the stupid mall even if the only time we'd actually ever spent together before was during my detentions, so if something like that happens in my presence, you should be fully responsible and ready to answer any questions that I might have. Running from the problem and trying to avoid me isn't going to make me any less wor-curious."

She looked up at my little slip of tongue. I blushed.

"Is Natsuki... worried about me?"

"... No."

She smiled softly.

"I admit that it was my fault for having you be with me all day yesterday, but I'm sure that was better than the rest of the 2 week detention sentence you originally had, no?"

I frowned and blushingly looked away.

"That's irrelevant, Fujino."

She shrugged.

"I suppose it is."

We stayed silent for quite a while, before, finally, I couldn't hold myself back any longer.

"Why did you collapse, Fujino? Are you sick?"

Shizuru gave inhaled loudly before turning away from me.

"I'm not sick."

"Then what is it? You were fine just moments before, and then all of a sudden, you just... fell down."

"I tripped."

"While standing?"

She cleared her throat awkwardly and sighed.

"Natsuki, I don't think I can... I don't have any..."

"Yes?"

"I can't answer you right now. It'd be better if you didn't know. It'd be better if no-one knew."

She sighed again and ran a hand through her hair.

"But believe me. If there had to be someone who had to know, it would be Natsuki. It would be Natsuki."

She walked back towards me, her face more honest and open than I'd ever seen it. It scared me, it scared me enough to keep me immobile as Shizuru gently enveloped me in her warm arms.

"Fu-Fu-Fujino..."

"Gomen, Natsuki. But please, don't ask me about what happen yesterday ever again, alright? I'll tell you when I'm ready."

It was my turn to sigh. I pulled away from her and crossed my arms across my chest.

"Fine."

She smiled.

"Oh, and Natsuki?"

"Hm?"

"Stop calling me Fujino."

I frowned.

"Then what do you want me to call you? Kaichou-sama, like everyone else?"

She laughed and patted my head.

"No. I want you to call me Shizuru."

"What?"

"Come on. I call Natsuki by her first name. Why can't you do the same for me?"

"But this is... absurd!"

"Natsuki..."

She gave me her famous puppy dog look. I blushed for several moments before finally giving in.

"Alright, fine."

"Hm? Fine what?"

I made a point to glare at her as I said it.

"Fine. _Shizuru._"

"Ookini, Natsuki."

"Argh, I'm going."

I could still hear her laughter even as I stomped down the hallway and turned the corner.


	6. a call

_10._

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

"Oi."

"H-H-Hello?"

Natsuki frowns into the phone and shoots me a look.

"What?"

"You have weird callers, Shizuru."

I shrug and laugh.

"I'm popular, of course I'll have a wide variety of callers."

Natsuki gives me another look before returning to the phone.

"Who is this?"

"Th-this is T-T-T-Takeda."

"Takeda, huh?"

I look up from my math homework in interest.

"Takeda-kun, is it?"

"Yeah. You want to talk to him?"

Natsuki holds the phone out to me, and I gently take it from her.

"Takeda-kun?"

"Fu-Fujino-san! Why is K-Kuga at your house?"

I laugh.

"We're doing homework together. Natsuki promised to take me out shopping today but forgot about dinner, so we had to come back here to eat. Is there anything I can help you with, Takeda-kun?"

There's a wild pause as Takeda seems to stutter incoherently.

"Takeda-kun?"

"Ah! Ack! Fujino-san. Gomen. Um..." Takeda pauses again before muttering as though I can't hear him, "eating dinner together, huh?"

"I didn't quite catch that, Takeda-kun. What was it that I could help you with?"

"Oh... Um…"

Natsuki taps my shoulder and gestures towards her math homework. I cover up the phone with a hand and peer at the question she's pointing to.

"I don't get it. Am I supposed to be dividing this, or multiplying or what?"

"I think Natsuki should read the instructions."

"What!"

I laugh and use my head to vainly motion towards the instructions at the top of the worksheet.

"It says here to 'complete the square'."

"Well, I don't know how to 'complete the square'."

"I'm sure you do."

"I don't. My imbecile of a teacher didn't cover anything in class on 'completing the triangle'."

"Square."

"Whatever. Just do it for me."

Natsuki thrusts her pencil at me as I duck away and laugh, gesturing towards the phone.

"I can't do that, Natsuki. Natsuki must learn to do her math work by herself. And anyway, Takeda-kun is waiting."

"I don't care if Take-what's-his-face is waiting! You promised to help me with my homework!"

"Ara... But helping Natsuki doesn't mean doing the work for her."

"Shizuru!"

I shake my head and stand up. Natsuki follows suit and lunges at me. Squealing, I jump away and run to the other side of the room before putting phone to my ear again.

"---her phone number, please."

"Ara... Gomen, Takeda-kun, but I didn't catch the first part of that. Do you mind saying it again?"

Takeda coughs awkwardly before he, having built up enough courage while Natsuki had interrupted me before, started to recite what I had just missed.

"I've, um, noticed how you seem to be with Kuga Natsuki a lot lately, in school and in your free time and such, and, um... I'm sure you must think I'm weird or something, and this isn't an attempt to talk about reaccepting Tate-kun into the kendo club again or anything, but... YouhaveKugaNatsuki'snumberdon'tyou? CanIhaveit?"

"Natsuki's phone number?"

"WHAT!"

Natsuki springs up from her place at the table and immediately lunges towards me, snatching the phone away.

"WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU ASKING SHIZURU FOR MY PHONE NUMBER!"

There's a pause as a stunned Takeda tries to salvage the situation on the other side of the line, but from the way Natsuki's face darkens, I can tell he's fighting a losing battle.

"ARE YOU INSANE? OF COURSE I WON'T GO OUT WITH YOU!"

Another pause.

"I DON'T HAVE TO BE BUSY TO NOT GO OUT WITH YOU!"

Takeda must be crying now.

"WELL, I AM BUSY THAT DAY!"

Natsuki shoots an incredulous look at me. Takeda must have said something else stupid.

"WHAT DO YOU CARE ABOUT WHERE I'M GOING THAT DAY!"

But I must hand it to him, he is quite daring to ask Natsuki upfront like that.

"I'M WITH SHIZURU, ALRIGHT! WE HAVE A DATE FOR THAT DAY!"

"What?"

Natsuki clamps her hand on the phone and jumps down from the bed, where she was standing as she yelled at Takeda just moments ago.

"Shut up, Shizuru. We're on a date for this Saturday, got it? We're going someplace for the whole, entire day. If anyone asks, particularly this Takeda person, we're on a date."

"A...date."

Natsuki looks at me exasperatedly.

"Yes, a date. Geez, Shizuru, it's not that hard to understand."

"A…date. Natsuki, are you saying…? Oh, Natsuki!"

It takes her a moment to understand what I'm trying to say, but when she does get it, she begins to splutter furiously, her face an awe-inspiring shade of red.

"N-n-NO! Shizuru!"

"So then Natsuki doesn't want to go on a date with me? Ara..."

"Shi-Shizuru!"

I smile and grab the phone from her, taking advantage of her moment of embarrassment.

"Takeda-kun?"

"F-Fujino-san!"

He sounds so relieved. I can't help but laugh.

"Takeda-kun, I have good news for you. Natsuki is actually free this Saturday, and she's more than willing to go on a date with you!"

"Eh?"

"EH!"

Takeda and Natsuki react in the exact same way, though Natsuki's reaction is much more extreme.

"But Fujino-san, Kuga-san... rejected me. You probably heard too, and—"

"SHIZURU, DON'T YOU DARE---"

"Ah, but Takeda-kun, you don't know Natsuki as well as I do. Natsuki gets embarrassed easily, and when she's embarrassed, she tends to get angry. That was her way to say 'yes' to your request."

"FUJINO SHIZURU! GIVE ME THAT PHONE OR I'LL—!"

Before she can finish her threat, I press my lips onto hers, effectively silencing her. I smile into the kiss and listen to Takeda happily stuttering into his phone.

"Fujino-san..."

I break away to answer.

"Yes?"

"T-thank you. Can you tell Kuga that.—"

"Come pick her up at my dorm on Saturday. Does 9 a.m sound alright to you?"

"9? 9! O-o-of course! I'll be there!"

"Alright. We'll see you then, Takeda-kun."

"See you then!"

The phone clicks, signaling the end to the conversation. I smile contentedly and place the phone back on its stand before turning to face Natsuki.

"Natsuki? Are you alright? You look a bit pale..."

She turns her head to look at me, her neck jerking as though she can't quite move it properly.

"Natsuki?"

She lunges at me. I skip away.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR, SHIZURU!"

"What was what for? Oh, the date with Takeda?"

"NO! THE KISS!"

"The kiss...?"

"YES, THE KISS! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!"

"No. You were yelling and I needed to hear what Takeda had to say."

Natsuki clamps her mouth shut and glares daggers at me.

"Yeah, right."

I smile.

"Was I really that bad, Natsuki?"

"W-w-w-wh—"

"Ara, I was. I should never kiss anyone ever again... Oh, what would my fans say if they ever found out...!"

Natsuki looks at me incredulously, spluttering and gesturing wildly with her hands before, finally realizing that she's too inarticulate to get anything across, she turns around, grabs my pillow, and hurls it at me.

"Natsuki!"

"You BAKA!"


	7. a hint

_17._

"Would Kuga Natsuki please report to Student Council Headquarters. I repeat, would Kuga Natsuki please report to Student Council Headquarters."

Shit.

Shizuru finally figured it out, didn't she?

It hadn't been my fault. She'd been the one to drag me to her house again, claiming to be offering dinner and a homework help session, but it had instead been a session of culinary conversion in which she forced various types of overly bland, traditional Japanese dishes onto me, and then had proceeded to make fun of my severely lacking English skills. In retaliation, I'd once again thrown her pillow at her, as I'd done several times before, except this time, there was something hard in there. She ended up having to run off to her bathroom to stop the nosebleed.

I'd sat outside at the table, wondering how the hell a pillow could have caused that nosebleed, and just why Shizuru would have something hard in her pillow. She was smart, that one. The moment her nose started bleeding, she'd immediately rushed off to the bathroom, conveniently taking the offending pillow with her so I couldn't examine just what hit her on the nose. Well, she'd have to pay for that.

"Natsuki, come in."

Shizuru slid the door to the Student Council Headquarters open, and I stepped in. She sat back down at her desk and I took my customary spot, perching on the edge of her desk as she closed down her laptop.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Natsuki, you know what. Give it back."

I shrugged.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Shizuru."

She raised an eyebrow before getting up out of her kaichou chair and walking to the window.

"I should have noticed before. It's a wonder, how suddenly the infamous Kuga Natsuki has no lates whatsoever. I'd started to think that maybe all my lectures on the negativity of being late might have gotten to you."

I scoffed.

"As if."

"Precisely."

She had an eerie smile on her face, the kind that was a mixture between 'be prepared Natsuki, I'm going to tease you until you cry' and 'insert evil laughter here'. I frowned and immediately stood on guard.

"Well," Shizuru began innocently enough, "I went around personally to all of your teachers to inquire into the situation."

"Stop using big words."

"And guess what I found out?"

She leaned forward, her hands behind her back, her head tilted to one side. Her smile grew as my own discomfort increased.

"What?"

"Your attendance card is missing."

So, she figured it out.

"Missing, hm? Well, lucky me."

"Indeed. In fact, this is too beneficial for you."

"There's no such thing as too beneficial, Shizuru."

"Oh, but there is. Especially since the teachers all claimed that the missing attendance card was due to the fact that they never got it back after I'd collected them to see who I needed to issue detentions to."

Shizuru turned around and began to pace the room, hands still behind her back, smile still on her face.

"Now, Natsuki knows as well as I do that I never lose things, especially not important school documents," she paused, "especially not my precious Natsuki's attendance card."

"I'm not your precious Natsuki!"

"So I began to think back. I couldn't have misplaced it, but it wouldn't hurt to check, now would it?"

She strode to her desk and picked up her bag. Opening it, she put her hand in and drew out a stack of attendance cards.

"Do you know what these are, Natsuki?"

"Attendance cards."

"Yes. For your entire class. Funny how yours is the only one missing. Funny how some of your fellow classmates have a few more lates than they've actually accumulated."

Okay, so maybe I'd taken it a bit too far.

"Yeah," I scoffed, "funny. Why are you telling me this?"

"Because here, on the card that is alphabetically after yours, is a fingerprint."

WHAT! Did she DNA scan it or something!

"A _mayo_ fingerprint, to be precise."

I immediately recoiled. My God. How could I have been so reckless? I had meant to snack on as much mayo as I could while Shizuru was gone, but then I saw the tip of the stack of attendance cards sticking out from Shizuru's bag. They had been so tempting.

"So," Shizuru finally said, a smug look on her face, "I do believe Natsuki has something of mine. Would you mind giving it back?"

"I don't have anything that belongs to you. Maybe except that jacket you leant me the other day. And your pencil. And maybe your calculator too. But other than that there's nothing!"

"Technically, the attendance card does belong to you as it is Kuga Natsuki's attendance card, but as Fuka Gakuen's kaichou, it is my duty to record lates on the database and issue detentions. Therefore, attendance cards are, to an extent, mine."

I turned to leave.

"Forget it. I don't have it, so quit bothering me."

Shizuru didn't answer. Instead, a quiet ripping sound reached my ears. Oddly, it sounded exactly like...

"Oh my God, Shizuru, you wouldn't…!"

I turned around to see if it was true, and there it was, sitting in her hands, taunting me.

"If Natsuki gives the attendance card back, then this is yours."

The... temptation...

"Shizuru..."

"All you have to do is give the attendance card back, it's very simple."

That... goddamned attendance card...

"Come on, Natsuki."

The...!

"Shizuru! You... You...!"

She smiled sweetly before walking up to me to wave it under my nose.

"Give it back, Natsuki."

"D-d-d... DAMN YOU!"

Shizuru laughed and reached for my hand. Grasping it, she uncurled my fingers and gently placed the bag of mayo flavoured chips into my palm and smiled.

"And the card?"

"It's in my bag."

"That's my Natsuki."

I would have yelled that I wasn't 'her Natsuki', but my mouth was crammed with chips and wouldn't have managed anything except maybe a massive choke followed by a spray of chip crumbs. So I let it slide.

"Ah, Natsuki?"

"Mrpgh?"

"This is for you."

A small box sat on the desk. I swallowed.

"What is it?"

"The thing that made my nose bleed. And not in that way, Natsuki."

I blushed as I figured out what she was implying.

"This was the hard thing that Natsuki kept asking to see when you threw my pillow at me."

"...That!"

The mayo chips went flying, surprising me as much as it surprised Shizuru.

"Ara...! But wait, Natsuki!"

I stopped just in time, skidding to a halt moments before I crashed into the desk.

"What is it, Shizuru?"

She looked at me, her maple eyes shining with something that I couldn't identify.

"Don't open it until it's the right time, alright?"

"The right time? Shizuru, what the hell d'you mean? I could open it right now, it's the right time."

She sighed and turned away, wrapping her arms around herself and staring out the window.

"No. Natsuki, you'll understand when it comes. You'll feel it. Then you'll know that it's the right time."

She left me there as she exited the Student Council Headquarters, closing the wooden sliding door behind her.

"The right time, huh?"


	8. an adventure

_4._

It had been a bit of a mistake on my part, really.

Natsuki had told me that she needed help on her English work and had invited me to her dorm room for the course of one Saturday afternoon. She'd asked, very politely and without much facial expression, if I could drop by for an hour or two to help her out. I had, of course, accepted. Anything for my dear Natsuki, right?

Wrong.

Upon my arrival at her doorstep from my lengthy Student Council meeting, I had been greeted by a certain Tokiha Mai, who was suspiciously red in the face and slightly breathless.

"Hi."

"...Hello, Tokiha-san."

"N-Natsuki'swaitinginsideforyou. I'mgoingtogonow. I'llseeyoulater!"

She ran off as though she was running for her life, skirt flaring out behind her, fiery hair fluttering gently.

She was beautiful, that one, but not as beautiful as the figure leaning casually in the doorframe in front of me.

"Shizuru. You made it. And on time."

"As usual." I added for her, knowing that Natsuki would make a jibe at my punctuality.

She smiled, though there was something a little off with the whole image.

"Yes. Yes indeed. D'you want to come in?"

Her deep navy hair had been tied back in a high ponytail, as though to keep it out of her way. Her sleeves were rolled up past her elbows, exposing slim but toned forearms, a small scar marring the perfection of her left wrist. It was barely visible to others but painfully obvious to me. Seeing where I was looking, Natsuki slipped her wrist behind her, uncomfortable.

"Oh, c'mon Shizuru, get in here. I need your help."

And that's how I got to where I am now.

"GET IT OFF OF ME, NATSUKI! NATSUKI!"

Natsuki squeals in a mixture of terror and amusement as I prance around, batting at my hair in spastic horror.

"No way I'm coming near you. Get it off yourself."

"NATSUKI! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

I cannot believe how easily my composure has been shattered. All by a small, insignificant spider.

Well, okay.

It's not insignificant. Nor is it small. And it's in my hair.

Finally, as though she's at last gained a conscience, Natsuki steps forward and gives my head a sound smack. The spider falls, dislodged, onto the ground, where she lifts her tissue-covered slipper and brings it shatteringly onto the scurrying thing's sorry behind.

"Nothing but a puddle of goo and blood now." she says, smirking.

I want to strangle her, I really do. Instead, I give her a glare before slipping back into my aura of polite, though slightly air-headed, interest.

"That's nice, Natsuki," I murmur, smiling, "It's comforting to know that my Natsuki is such a brave and selfless person."

She catches the sarcasm in my last sentence, but it doesn't stop her from reacting.

"I'm not selfless, especially not for you, and I'm definitely not _your _Natsuki! How many times do I have to tell you that?"

I shrug and sit down onto the dusty couch, aware that it will ruin my best school skirt, and not caring all the same.

"Natsuki hasn't mentioned that before, so I believe she'll have to tell me that several more times for me to remember. I do have such bad memory."

She sighs, clearly exasperated, before dropping onto the couch beside me. The thing squeaks in protest, its springs sagging under the slight weight of us two.

"So," she says, leaning in closer to me than she ever has.

"Yes, Natsuki?"

She leers at me, her green eyes sparkling.

"I hope that spider in your hair's liking it there."

I scoff, despite the rising urge to scream that's welling up in my throat.

"I'm not going to fall for that again, Natsuki."

"Oh really?" she replies simply, standing up.

It's then that I feel that familiar small tingle at the top of my head. My entire body goes rigid. I cannot believe this!

"Nat... Natsuki..."

"Stay absolutely still, Shizuru."

"Ok-"

"No. Not a word." she breathes as she inches closer, her eyes screwed in concentration.

It's so sudden, I didn't even have the time to prepare myself. Natsuki raises her hand and, with surprising decisiveness, brings it down with a loud smack onto my head. She crows in triumph.

"I got it!"

She holds out the slipper for me to examine the tissue wrapped around it, and I find myself half expecting to see my blood mixed in with the spider's.

Only...

Only...

"Natsuki... There's nothing there."

"Oh really?" she says, her face quizzical, her eyes mischievous.

She turns the bottom of the slipper to face her, although I have a sneaking feeling she's doing that to stem her urge to laugh.

"Yes. There's nothing there," I repeat, standing up.

Natsuki, too engrossed in trying not to laugh, doesn't notice my movement. Any of my movements. Before she can react, I've swept a spider that I'd just noticed lurking on the sofa back behind her onto her shoulder.

"Natsuki! There's a spider, on your shoulder!"

"What!" she cries, noticing the thing crawling on her shoulder, "Get it o-!"

SMACK.

She cringes, her face turned from the force of the hit. Slowly, jerkily, she turns her head to face me.

"What. Was. That. FOR!"

I'd just smacked her in the face with my slipper. While daintily brushing the spider that had been on Natsuki's shoulder off and onto the floor, crushing it with my shoe.

"It crawled onto Natsuki's beautiful face. I had to kill it, it was marring your beauty!"

My expression is of utmost seriousness with none of my amusement leaking out as Natsuki's had only moments before. She stares at me though, incredulous, because she knows that there had been no spider on her face, just as there had been no spider on my head.

"Shizuru..."

"Ara, Natsuki's face is scary now..."

"Shi. Zu. Ru."

I can sense her impending attack. I tense, waiting for it. Her hand twitches.

"SHIZURU!"

She rises in one swell motion, her slipper raised above her head, her eyes shooting lasers as fire escapes from her ears.

I choose that precise moment to send my left index finger into the soft, exposed side of Natsuki's waist. It's surprising how such an innocent poke can negate such a formidable attack. Natsuki crumples almost immediately at my touch and she falls in a heap onto my lap.

"Oooof!" was the only thing dear Natsuki could manage as she landed with her gut on my knees. I'd completely winded her."

"Ara. Did you trip, Natsuki?"

She tries to get up, her face completely red, but I press her back down, resting my elbows on the small of her back. With a smile, I lean my chin onto my hand, an idle expression on my face.

"Is everything alright, Natsuki?" I ask, letting my amusement show through.

"No," she hisses back at me, her arms dangling down one side of my legs, "let me up."

"No."

"Shizuru!"

"I'll let Natsuki up once she apologizes for hitting me."

"You hit me back already! You've had your revenge!"

"Apologize."

"Oh, no way I'm gonna-!"

"If not for hitting me, then for calling me here."

"You said you'd help me- "

"Under false pretences."

That shut her up. She sighs, sagging onto my legs.

"Oh, come on, Shizuru. If I'd told you why I actually needed you here, you'd have never come!"

"Yes, that's right. I would not have come if Natsuki had said that she had asked me so that she could have her revenge. For what happened yesterday."

She blushes at that.

"That's not it!"

"Really?"

"I just needed help getting rid of all these spiders!"

"Really?"

"Yes, really!"

We sound like a pair of old friends who have known each other since birth, the way we argue and bicker. Knowing she never really meant me any harm, I let Natsuki up. There's a faint blush on her face as she accidentally brushes her cheek against the fabric of my shirt that's covering my chest.

"And anyway," she finally says, coughing uncomfortably, "thanks. For your help."

I stand and brush the dust off the backside of my skirt.

"It really was no problem. Anything for my dear Natsuki."

"I'm not your dear Natsuki." she grits, but I ignore her.

I look around, pulling my hair out of its ponytail.

"There doesn't seem to be any more spiders in here. I think our job is done, don't you, Natsuki?"

She takes a look around before nodding. Strolling over to her bed, she picks up my coat and hands it to me.

"Here."

I look at her, smiling.

"Sending me away already?"

She splutters, unable to respond adequately to my inquiry, so I take the opportunity and lean in, pressing a soft kiss onto her cheek. She blushes to no end.

"I'll go even though I don't want to," I whisper huskily, "because Natsuki wishes it so."

She has no reply for me, even as I slip out the door. As I round the corner and approach the stairwell, Natsuki finally regains her sense of speech.

"SHIZURU! I HOPE YOU KNOW, THERE'S A SPIDER ON THE COLLAR OF YOUR SHIRT, YOU INSOLENT WOMAN!"


	9. a song

AN: Haha!! Update!! Okay, so this has probably been sitting idly on my computer for, like, 3/4 months, and I would have posted, except I ran into some delays with the timing of the later chapters. Luckily, I rediscovered a random chapter that I'd written a while back (also the last one I posted here as part of my 4-part post) that inspired me to rework the timings, and therefore allowed me to make this post. :D New chapters will come out when I find the time/inspiration to write again, because grade 12 exams are killer, and they're coming...

* * *

_29._

They said she would be okay.

They said that maybe, if everything went well, she'd be back up and running in less than a month. Tops.

They said what I'd wanted them to say. How I wish they hadn't.

The world lies through its teeth. Did you know that, Shizuru?

_Even the best fall down sometimes  
Even the stars refuse to shine  
Out of the back you fall in time  
_

She left with a smile on her face, a smile of forgiveness, of laughter, of amusement.

_I somehow find  
_

Lies. All lies.

_You and I collide  
_

The world swirls in never ending columns of movement, taking me with it, taking me someplace I don't want to be. She'd always been there to shelter me, stop the buffeting and the rough pushes and shoves that moved me from place to place. Where was she now?

_I'm quiet you know  
You make a first impression_

She cared more than she should have. I cared until my heart broke from the strain of it. We both cared enough so that in the end, it hurt. Why was I the only thing she ever cared to care for?

_I've found I'm scared to know _

Her going shouldn't have mattered this much.

_I'm always on your mind_

It shouldn'tmatter this much.

_Don't stop here_

I'm falling. Falling through an emptiness of tan and crimson, tainted with the knowledge that it was because of me that the world lost its one and only Fujino Shizuru. They hadn't lost her when she'd left, hours ago. They'd lost her exactly 28 days, 4 hours and 56 minutes ago, when she'd first met me.

_I've lost my place_

There was never anything more to it than us getting lost in each other, refusing to acknowledge that the world was beginning to get suspicious, to hate us for being the way we were. She was all I had left. I was all she'd ever wanted.

_I'm close behind_

Meaningless words fly from my lips as I twirl, laughing. The notes hang in the air, a familiar shroud of comfort even when the source of it is gone.

_You finally find_

Shizuru. Why?

_You and I_

Is this what you wanted? Is this how you planned it? Is this what you and I

_collide_

were destined to have, as soon as your eyes first laid on mine? Crimson on emerald.

_You finally find  
_

How different could we have been?

How different are we now?

Living.

On the brink of death.

That surgery should have ended hours ago. You should have come back to us, hours ago. Are you afraid to face me, now that I know? Is this why you're hiding?

_You and I collide_

The light blinks off behind the sign, red light dissipating quickly from the 'Operating' that had been on for far too long.

The doctor walks out.

"Are you Kuga Natsuki?" he asks me, as though it should be the first words out of his mouth.

"Yes."

He runs a hand over his face.

"Kuga-san. I'm extremely sorry."

The world fades to black.

You and I.

Shizuru. You traitor.

We collide.


	10. a smile

_14._

"Shizuru-sama, your tea."

The steam wafts from the steaming liquid into the frigid air of the central room in the Fujino residence. The ice that has begun to settle on my forehead from the coolness of my father's gaze melts a bit as the tea's warmth encircles my head. At my slightly relieved but always ambiguous smile, the servant rises from her knees, an apprehensive look on her face, and scurries from the room. My father's resilient gaze increases in strength and a surge of ice washes over me.

"It is a sacred ritual, enjoying one's tea."

My father's voice is aloof, calm, but undeniably cold. So unlike hers. So much like mine.

"As is obeying your father's wishes."

Though he sounds detached, his anger pierces, but not as deeply as he'd like, or thinks he has achieved.

"Shizuru, do you understand the implications of your actions? The consequences? Do you know what havoc you are wreaking upon the family name? You are a disgrace, Shizuru, a disgrace."

"I thought I was your greatest daughter."

"Do not mock me, Shizuru. Disobedience is demonic, and it has invaded your soul. I will not stand for this."

"Then don't."

The wrath of my father shines clearly in his crimson eyes as he brings is fist down onto the ground in a controlled jab. Tea from his cup spills into a pool of translucent green on the intricately weaved bamboo floor. All his traditionalism, flowing away from him, slipping between grasping fingers as he tries to stop the tea from ebbing to me.

"You cannot do this, Shizuru."

"I've already signed the papers."

"I can revoke your signature and –"

"The hospital requires a person of 18 years of age to make the final decision. An irrevocable decision. You can do nothing, Father."

"I will do something." he replies icily. The tea licks at my kimono, "You cannot abandon this place as though we have no meaning, Shizuru. We –"

"This isn't about the good of the family anymore, is it."

" – are your family. You are the prized daughter of –"

"It's about your own good. The company's."

"--the Fujino clan, the Fujino _empire_. We are different, you are different. We are above –"

"I should have guessed."

"—the filth that you associate with. The filth, --"

"Is my death nothing but press? Shall it be nothing more than for the 'good cause', _your_ 'good cause'?"

"—that filth known as _Kuga Natsuki_."

I inherited my eyes from him, the colour, the texture, the depth. I also inherited the ability to hide and impress from him, a trait that keeps him at the top of the business world and I at the top of the Student Council. His traditionalism, he bred into me, branded me with, at a young age as he had servants fix my sandy tan hair into the common Japanese arrangement. That was all I had from my deceased mother: the colour of my hair. She died under the iron grip of my father's rigid faith in the old ways and left me to deal with him. I became a tyrant with a sweet face, prowling behind a façade.

"You will not address Kuga Natsuki in such a manner, _Father_."

He hesitates, sensing something lurking behind the curtain of tan shielding my eyes from his as I raise my head to look at him demurely. Demurely.

"Kuga Natsuki is my friend. I've never stood for insults being thrown at my friends, and I will not stand for it now."

His gaze holds mine for longer than I would have expected. For all those years he had spent ruling over others, crushing them beneath the pad of his golden Fujino thumb, he'd never encountered a worthy opponent, one who could hold their own against his unfathomable, uncomfortably empty red eyes. Eyes just like mine.

I smile.

"Uneasy, Father?"

He swallows, the lump in his throat rising and falling in well hidden but jerky motions.

"Look at me, Father," I breathe, "this is the monster you've created, modelled after and taught by you. Are you impressed?"

He remains silent, averting his suppressed nervous gaze instead to the tea that he'd spilled, the tea that's soaked into my kimono.

"Or are you happy, Father, that I'm dying a slow and painful death? The only one who has ever been able to stare down the infamous Fujino," I laugh, "won't be there to threaten the throne any longer."

"It's not like that..."

"Don't try to explain yourself to me. She loved you, though only Kami knows why, and you _killed her_."

"I've seen you with that Kuga girl." he starts, his newly found sense of anger spawned from my accusation fuelling him in a deadly calm way.

"Have you ever paused to consider the consequences?" I ask, evenly.

"Have you?" he replies, just as evenly.

I laugh, a disconcerting sound that makes him flinch, though he hides it well.

"Do I need to?" I question, "I'm not going to be here to have to deal with the consequences."

"As the heir to the Fujino empire, you have responsibilities, Shizuru." he says acidly.

I laugh again, this time, with an edge.

"I'm DYING, Father. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe tomorrow, I won't _be there_, to laugh, to cry, to waste my breath arguing with you, to be with the ones I love, the ones I care about? And all you have to say is that I have _responsibilities_."

He deflates, sagging under the weight of my words. The seething anger in his eyes winks out, replaced by an infinite sadness.

"Perhaps... it has," he says, his voice breaking slightly, "and perhaps this arguing is the only way I can communicate with my daughter, because I don't know any other way."

I look at him, look at him for real, for the first time, and I see a tired old man. Black hair streaked with white, red eyes filled with pain, skin wrinkled from the long years of protecting his family's legacy.

"I loved your mother, Shizuru, just as much as I love you. How I wish you had gotten her eyes instead of mine. Instead of these accursed Fujino eyes!"

He runs a hand over them, closing them from the world.

"You would have seen things so much better, Shizuru. You would have found the world beautiful, and not a war torn land. Your mother loved unconditionally because she was pure; there was no Fujino blood to taint her optimistic outlook on the world. If only you had that too..."

"I'm... learning, Father."

"Really?" he murmurs, staring at his hands as he clenches and unclenches them in turn on his lap, "From who?"

"Natsuki."

He flinches at the name.

"That... Kuga girl."

"Yes. Kuga Natsuki."

"She comes so late, and yet, I'm still losing you to her."

"Father..."

He stands, his knees cracking. The edges of his sleeves are soaked with spilled tea.

"Perhaps this is the only way."

He walks to the door and slides it open. As he steps out, he turns to me and smiles. A smile different from mine, so different from mine. A smile like my mother's.

"I have a meeting, Shizuru. The servants will take care of you. Goodbye."

He disappears down the hallway, out of sight. Long minutes pass. My kimono is soaked at the knees.

"Shizuru-sama?"

I look up.

"Yes?"

The servant bows her head down, scared.

"There-there was someone here, a blue-haired girl, while you and Fujino-sama were... talking. She said she came here looking for you. She left midway through your discussion."

Natsuki.

"Thank you for telling me. You may return to your work."

"Yes, Shizuru-sama."

How much had she heard? Just how much did Natsuki know, now? Even in my final stretch, the world still dealt me such bitter cards.

I smile.

No matter. It will all be over soon.


	11. interlude I endlessly

AN: Ooooooookay, this is slightly random. I originally planned to write little AU one-shots in the Interlude sections, with an Interlude coming along after every 10 chapters, but I just couldn't find the inspiration to write the one I'd planned for this slot, and I'd already had a chapter written up as chapter 11 that I really wanted to post. Not having this Interlude written up meant I couldn't post chapter 11, so I decided to root around on my computer and, whaddya know, I found _this_. This is an excerpt (actually, it's the beginning) of a 12 page long story I was working on several months ago that I couldn't bring myself to finish sufficiently to warrant a post. So, I decided to put part of it here, and go ahead with the posting of chapter 11. :D I apologize for the randomness/potentially bad writing. This was just a random idea that was nagging me that I needed to get down.

* * *

The wind blew over the deserted lands, raising up dust clouds along with two solitary flags, one of tan, the other of deep blue. Both contrasted sharply against the dull death of the worn soil and sand. 

Two lone figures stood together but apart, facing each other with every intent to take the other down. It wouldn't be long. The two whirled away and began to pace off.

_One._

Shizuru couldn't remember the last time she'd felt warm. The wind whipped her hair up about her face again, but she ignored the sharp stings of her tan strands scratching her dry skin.

_Two._

Natsuki looked down at her hand, at the fist surrounding the hilt of her sword. It was white-knuckled. With a conscious effort, she loosened her hold and let the blood flow back into her fingers.

_Three._

They would be proud, Shizuru knew. The enemy of her family, the scourge of the Blessed Lands, the one last, living member of the Kruger family would be removed from existence. The Fujino dynasty would only have feeble and easily disposable rebels in their way of absolute rule, nothing else.

_Four._

No-one was around, no-one would hear, no-one would witness her triumph over the prized princess of the tyrannical Fujino clan. Too bad, but the true hero would always go with their victories unsung. It didn't matter. Natsuki would survive and the Kruger family name would live on, with the addition of one more great feat to its list of many.

_Five._

Shizuru had always loved that silky feeling. The feeling of that special person's skin, that person's hair, lips, the soft smell that wafted up into her delicate nostrils when she awoke in that person's bed. Shizuru would miss those things, just like she'd always miss the distinct colour of bright emerald framed by deep blue.

_Six._

Natsuki needed to feel protected. No matter how tough she looked or acted, she'd always needed someone in the background to fall back on, to hold her when she felt that she could no longer stand up against the tidal waves of disaster the world liked to throw on her. It was uncanny, but true. Maple and tan were going to forever be what her heart would yearn and ache for.

_Seven._

She was desperate, her heart ached. Peace talks, sweet talk, whispered oaths of love and soft moans of ecstasy hadn't been of any use, Shizuru just couldn't get away from what seemed like fate. But why did Destiny deal her such a hard hand? Why couldn't it have been different? Shizuru heard the sound of the wind moaning in synch with her heart.

_Eight._

There wasn't any choice and she knew it. Even then, she felt claustrophobic, nauseously so. Natsuki felt trapped in a corner that she didn't want to be in, with no way out. Why was it like this? How had this happened? Natsuki shook what she called pointless thoughts out of her mind and prepared for the inevitable.

_Nine._

It would never stop. Ever since it had grown in her, it had never stopped, and Shizuru knew that even if Natsuki was killed, the thing inside of her would still never stop. In fact, it would get worse, until her heart and soul grew black with hatred and loss. She only hoped Natsuki, her one beloved, would forgive her. Shizuru readied her blade.

_Ten._

Natsuki felt it well up and cursed. She pushed the flailing beast down with every ounce of energy left that she didn't have concentrated on her weapon, thrusting the beast back into its shadowed corner. Nothing would quell her raging demon except the one thing she couldn't have. Shizuru. She knew then that deliverance was too much to ask for.

_Stop._

Fujino Shizuru. Natsuki Kruger. Two different people, two different worlds, one heart, three words.

_Turn._

I love you.

_Fly._

They raced towards each other with unsurpassable speed and grace. The following clash of swords expelled a shower of sparks that fell upon the two. Neither flinched.

It was breathtaking, but perversely so. What kind of beauty can be found and openly admired in the art of killing? This was a battle, a battle to settle a score as old as time itself, and it wasn't going to end in just a bloodbath, it was going to end in death. Natsuki prepared herself and thrust her sword forward.

There was a certain kind of grace and elegance that surrounded Shizuru wherever she went. No matter what she did, whether it was the action of serving tea, or whether it was the motion of wielding a sword, she did it with perfection and beauty. Shizuru's blade curved gently into the air above her head and swung down again in some sort of dance. Natsuki's sword tip glanced away from Shizuru's toned stomach in an eruption of sparks.

The Kruger family took pride in their fighting ability. Though raw and sometimes even crude, the Kruger style made up for whatever it lacked in sophistication with efficiency. There where scarce few who could withstand a fighting Kruger for long. Natsuki, after much debate and a guilty conscious but satisfied heart, counted it as fortunate that Shizuru was one of those few.

They continued. Shizuru parried, Natsuki stabbed, they both cried silent, hidden tears as their hearts bled.

It'd be over soon, but not soon enough.


	12. a promise

_13._

"I cannot _believe_ you'd do something like this to me."

"Mm hm."

"What made you think it was okay, Shizuru?! What made you think that I'd even ever _think_ about accepting something like this?! Accepting someone like _Takeda_ ?!"

"Mm hm."

"YOU'RE NOT EVEN LISTENING TO ME!"

I finish putting up Natsuki's hair, untangling my fingers from those heavenly soft strands and pinning the last of it in place with flourish.

"I am, Natsuki, but I have no answer."

"YOU INSOLENT WOMAN! WHY I OUGHT TO-"

I lean in close to her, making sure my breath cascades down the soft outer shell of her ear.

"Natsuki. You remember the last time I wanted you to stop yelling? Natsuki remembers what happened then, yes?"

She blushes an inhuman shade of red and quickly recoils, bounding up onto her grey-socked feet.

"G-get away from me, Shizuru."

"Ara... But Natsuki, I love you!"

She jumps onto and off of my bed, landing on the other side of it. She crouches as though she's ready to jump out the door if I choose to attack.

"Don't joke about stuff like that, Shizuru. And anyway, Takeda loves me. Your job now is to help me convince him that he doesn't."

For a moment, I feel an inexplicable stab of pain. It flickers behind my eyes, but being oh-so-familiar with having to hide what I feel, I easily put on an amused smile and conceal my discomfort with complacence. Natsuki doesn't notice.

"It isn't a job if Natsuki wants me to do it." I reply airily, winking.

Natsuki scoffs before finally, deciding that I mean her no harm in any manner, comes around the bed and seats herself in front of my mirror again.

"Is it really necessary, Shizuru?"

I reach over and pick up my blush, as well as my best brush.

"What? The date?"

"No, the make up." Natsuki replies with disdain.

I nod as I begin to brush the blush onto Natsuki's silken cheeks.

"Yes. It is part of the tradition."

"Tradition."

"Yes. The tradition of going on dates with accomplished young men."

Natsuki laughs at this, ruining my attempt at her left cheekbone.

"Oh please. First off, this isn't a date. At least, not one that I would want to call as a date. Secondly, Takeda is neither accomplished, nor is he a young man. He's an infantile imbecile."

I smooth over my mistake, making Natsuki's perfect cheekbone even more so.

"Such long words for a girl like you, Natsuki. Natsuki must be really mad to use words that she hates when others use them."

"... Shut up."

I lean back, smiling in satisfaction at having enhanced Natsuki's beautiful face in a way that even the best of makeup artists couldn't achieve. After all, none of them know the map of Natsuki's visage as well as I do. Natsuki looks at herself in the mirror, observing her new look. She raises a hesitant hand and rests two fingers on her right cheek.

Without warning, Natsuki jumps to her feet and grabs both my shoulders in her hands.

"Shizuru, take it off."

I look at her in surprise, my hand idly inching up to gently wrap around one of her wrists.

"Natsuki?"

"The make up. Take it off."

Noticing my hand, she quickly grasps it in one of hers and brings it up to her cheek. Frowning slightly, she presses my palm to the warm velvet canvas of her skin and unconsciously, I blush. A similar spread of pink flashes over Natsuki's features.

"But Natsuki's date with Takeda..."

"Doesn't matter anymore," Natsuki replies, her voice oddly subdued as she gazes unblinkingly at me, "I'm not going."

"But...!" I start in protest, slightly unnerved by Natsuki's countenance.

The moment shatters as Natsuki growls and stomps away, running my hand roughly down her cheek so that some of the powder there sprinkles onto my palm. The calm aura around her vanishes as if it were never there.

"Come on, Shizuru! You got me into this, you have to get me out. I'm NOT going on a date with Takeda!"

She swipes her jacket from atop the arm of my loveseat.

"I'm going. Tell Takeda I'm sick or something." she says, reaching for the door.

"Natsuki, wait."

She does indeed stop, turning only slightly to glance over her shoulder at me. I sigh, run a hand through my loose hair, and smile at her.

"I'll take it off."

I know she's relieved, though her face is as stoic as ever, and she drops her jacket on the loveseat again before plopping herself down onto the chair in front of me.

The minutes tick by as I gently rub away the traces of makeup from Natsuki's face. My hard work, coming off onto a cotton ball. Natsuki has her eyes closed, her features arranged in such a way that she resembled a half-agitated goddess. I sweep my fingers over her forehead, brushing away strands of blue, and I watch in fascination as Natsuki's expression slowly eases into relaxation.

"Natsuki..."

She opens one eye almost lazily and looks at me.

"What is it, Shizuru?"

There's something swirling in me, though whether it's some profound feeling or my usual nausea, I'm not sure. She catches on to my hesitation and reaches up with a hand to stop mine.

"Shizuru?"

"Can I kiss you, Natsuki?"

She opens her other eye in shock, her mouth slightly agape.

"W-what?"

I want to laugh and brush it off, tell her that I was just joking, but somehow, it doesn't seem as if I can.

"Can I, Natsuki? Can I kiss you?"

My throat is constricted with feeling. My stomach flips and turns and I watch as her shock gives way to mild surprise, then to slight disgust. Was it disgust? Or was it just aggravation?

"You never asked me before when you kissed me. How do I know you're not going to go ahead with it, even if I say no?" Natsuki accuses me, disgruntled and blushing.

"Because it's not like that this time."

I lean in closer, aware that Natsuki's breathing is short and slightly ragged on my nose.

"Natsuki can stop me anytime." I whisper.

My lips inch closer, her back is straight and stiff, her eyes following mine as I come closer and closer until she's cross-eyed. I can almost feel her mouth on mine, I can almost imagine what she'd taste like. My stomach turns in anticipation, but then...

"Shizuru?"

I rush off, a hand clamped over my mouth, face tinged green.

"Shizuru? Are you alright?"

The bathroom door crashes into the wall behind it as I barge through. Disgusting sounds emanate from me as I wretch again and again, leaving me faint, disoriented. Just as I fall backwards, completely disconnected from the physical world, Natsuki rushes in and catches me.

"Shizuru!"

I look up at her, smiling as black dots float around her concerned green eyes.

"Natsuki..."

"Was I really that bad?" she asks, smiling half-heartedly as she tries to lighten the mood though I can tell she's beyond worried, "We hadn't even kissed yet, and you had to go throw up."

I laugh, then cough as something catches in my throat. Natsuki whispers soothingly as she hoists me into sitting position, patting my back awkwardly.

"You okay?" she questions when I finally finish hacking.

"Yes. And Natsuki?"

"Hm?"

I can feel her fingers playing with the tips of my hair.

"You weren't bad. This has nothing to do with you. Or the kiss."

"The kiss..."

Just as I begin to snuggle deeper into her warmth, she pushes me away.

"Nats-?"

She presses her index finger onto my lips, silencing me.

"Do you want it or not?"

I give her a questioning look as she hasn't let up on my lips yet.

"Do you?" she asks again.

Before I can answer, she gingerly mashes her face into mine, pressing our mouths together before she can have any second thoughts. After a few long moments, she pulls away, blushing.

I stare at her.

"Natsuki, what-?"

"S-shut up, Shizuru."

She gets up, pulling me up roughly along with her. Spinning me around with her hands on my shoulders, she gestures towards the sink.

"And brush your teeth," she says, smiling wryly, "you taste like barf."

As she squeezes out mint toothpaste onto my toothbrush for me, I can't help but stare at her. She finishes the task and hands me the toothbrush.

"Well?" she says when I don't take it from her, "Do you want me to brush your teeth for you?"

"Isn't Natsuki going to ask me what just happened?"

She shakes her head and presses the toothbrush into my hand.

"No. I really don't want to think about what I just did right now."

"Oh."

"Not that I mean any offense to you," Natsuki adds hastily, "I just don't want to... I don't know what I'm getting myself into, is all."

"Oh."

There's silence as I begin to brush. Natsuki watches my reflection in the mirror carefully.

"Shizuru?"

"Hm?"

"That was… that was my first… _real_ kiss."

I spit out the foam into the sink and turn to look at her, instinctively knowing that she has something else to say. She blushes.

"Can you promise me something, Shizuru?"

I let my head tilt to the side as I give her an inquisitive look.

"What is it?"

She flounders for a moment, trying to find the words to say whatever it is she needs to say, "Promise me you'll..."

"Hm? What is it, Natsuki?"

"Promisemeit'llbeyouthatgivesmemyfirstrealnotbarftastingkiss." she spews before running out of the bathroom, and then out of my dorm.

I stand there, in my white, sterile bathroom, silent.

Was that...

Did she...?

I smile.

_Of course I will, Natsuki._

Now to deal with everything else. I pick up the phone and begin to dial.

Ring.

Ring.

"Hello, Takeda-kun?"


	13. an explanation: author's note

Oh children… Your reviews-despite-utter-confusion are so endearing:D

Lol.

So, because I've received many a review (okay... not that many, but whatevs) asking me what the italicized numbers at the top of each chapter mean/what the hell is going on, I've decided to post an explanation. Mind you, it's not going to give away the entire story, but it'll hopefully be enough to stop all the confusion that I assume has been spawning in all 'Calendar' readers.

**The numbers at the top of the page:**

Careful readers should have noticed that at the beginning of every chapter, there is always an italicized number to start things off. These numbers are not chapter numbers. They do not dictate what order you should read things in, because I posted things purposely in that order, so the order of posted chapters is the order that you should be reading things in.

The numbers mean _the days of the month_.

This whole story revolves around the 30 days that Natsuki spends with Shizuru, starting with the day after they've gone on an outing and Natsuki witnesses Shizuru's collapse, thus starting their pseudo-friendship, ending with something some of you have probably figured out. I've organized things in a way that the days are all jumbled out of chronological order, but if you pay attention, you'll realize that all the chapters link to each other in some way, despite the fact that they're not one following the other. Kudos to Hoppy-chan for mentioning that in a review. :D

Later on, when the entire story's done, you may choose to read things in order of the days that pass, rather than in the order that I've posted. By then, I'll also have 'Fluff' and 'Angst' labels on the chapters too, so if you feel particularly fluffy or angsty on a certain day and want to read 'Calendar', you can choose the kind you want. I thought of this because I've written so many fics that everyone claims are angsty, so I thought I'd contribute to the fluff department and allow fluff-lovers their share of ShizNat. I'll also have edited the story sufficiently (because I keep finding mistakes!!!) by the time I'm done that I'll have added the days of the month to the chapter labels on the drop-down menu, so if you choose to read things in chrono order, you'll be able to. More on that when I _actually finish the story_. Lol.

**On the ending:**

Before any of you go off and worry that I'll ruin the whole story by sticking the ending somewhere in the middle (because that's what I've been doing: sticking bits and pieces of the almost-ending in the beginning/middle) rest assured, I'm not dumb enough to do that. Haha. I'm leaving the ending until the last chapter. AND, because you all probably know/think that the ending's going to be super angsty, I'm posting an alternate ending to the ending, or in fact, I'm just posting two endings that are both legitimate endings to 'Calendar', so fluff-lovers and angst-lovers alike can have an ending that suits them.

Believe it or not, I actually put some thought into the organization of this story. LOL.

AAAAANNNNND, that's it. I'm done. :D Hopefully that helped at least some of you out there. As for updates/new chapters, I'm working on it (read: I'm attempting to work on it). Review/email me if you have any more questions, mkay?

Toodles, loves, and thank you all so much for the reviews. 3

PS: I changed the date number on chapter 11. I accidentally typed in the chapter number instead of the date. Haha. So now the 13-14-15 string, aka the chapter 11-10-1 string should make a little bit more sense. Hopefully.


	14. a threat

AN: Oh goodness, an update. This is for renny-chan, who managed to do what a lot of my friends wish they could do: kick me into action. So I managed to make good use of the semi not busy week and squeeze out a chapter, though I'm sure this could be a lot better than it is, but what's done is done and at least it's updated. Thank goodness for the renny-chan's in the world. Ummmmm, another update any time soon may or may not be too much to ask for, I'll see if this blinding headache of mine and my labs go away soon, but other than that... We'll see. We will see._  
_

* * *

_18._

I think maybe I'm delusional. Maybe I'm suffering from a high fever, at home, tossing and turning in my futon with a maid attending ever so diligently to me, their beautiful but hallucinating ojou-sama. Dabbing at my flushed forehead, shiny from a thin glossy sheen of sweat, at my cherubic cheeks as I try to burrow deeper into the warmth of the futon, away from some wild nightmare concocted by my infection-ridden mind, she'll sit ever so patiently at my side awaiting my awakening.

Ara.

What am I? Five? I do not have cherubic cheeks.

And I am most definitely not delusional, feverish, or at home.

I have been kidnapped. Bound. Gagged. Tied up. Didn't I tell Natsuki that bondage isn't really my thing? Is this why she's had me trussed up like some promiscuous pay girl and tossed into the back of some sketchy man's car?

I hear voices in that distant, drug-altered away, and for a few moments I'm sick with fear. Natsuki has gone so far as to have had me drugged? Who has that girl been talking to, lately?

Ara. I know who.

"….Yuuki… Nao…"

The voices stop abruptly and I try to smile through the gag, triumphant at my success of deducing who my abductor is, only… What is that smell? It makes me… The feeling is so disorienting, to be dizzy when one cannot see anything but darkness anyway. I feel the urge to sleep, but I fight it. It's getting hard.

"…Nat…su…"

Blackness.

"Oh, shut up, Fujino."

--

It's like a slap in the face, the cold water sloshed ever so unkindly onto my prone form. I wake up with a very unwelcome jolt.

"Wha- What-"

"Shut up, Fujino. Could you just stop contemplating in that airheaded way of yours for once in your life?"

I know who this is, and I also realize I am no longer bound and gagged. Rather, my hands are tied behind my back, and I'm currently sitting on a very uncomfortable chair.

"Ara, Yuuki-san. I knew I heard your voice during that enjoyable car ride. Why didn't you call me sooner? I would have gladly gone on a date with you. All you had to do was ask."

The room is dark, too dark for me to see, just yet, but I can hear the telltale signs of scuffling. Nao's muffled cursing, someone else's sharp demands for her to calm the hell down and leave me alone.

Hm. It seems the real culprit and mastermind behind my capture has decided to show up after all.

"Mr. Captor-san, please. I am but a humble girl with nothing but the school uniform I am currently wearing. If it would suffice, please feel free to take it, but don't hurt anyone that I care about. Especially not my dear Natsuki."

More scuffling, the sounds of Nao snickering and yelping indignantly when 'Mr. Captor-san' whacks her soundly about the head. There's the sound of a chain clinking and then suddenly, the room, or whatever part surrounds me, anyway, floods with light.

I blink once, twice. Can't really see, what with the sudden flash of brightness, but my eyes are slowly beginning to adjust. I can only imagine how unflattering I look, dishevelled and squinting in such an unladylike manner. I try to appear presentable as I cross my legs demurely at the ankles and give my head a little twist, flicking my hair into its natural windswept grace. Oh, the painstaking lengths that I go to to impress my lovely Natsuki.

"Fujino Shizuru."

She sounds unnaturally gruff in the most amusing way as she tries to mask her voice. Not that I wouldn't recognize her dulcet tones anywhere, anytime in any way, but she doesn't know that.

"Ara, Mr. Captor-san! Have you come to strip me of my only worldly possessions?"

Even behind the clichéd black ski mask I can imagine the blush spreading across her porcelain cheeks. My Natsuki is so easy to tease.

"N-NO! God, Shizuru, you…! Ah! I mean…!"

She fumbles for a while, fingers skittering in the air in a frantic attempt to type out her thoughts.

_I'm sorry, Natsuki, but I can't read what you're trying to write._

"Fujino Shizuru, I have been hired by a secret employer to interrogate you for a certain truth that you hide!" Natsuki booms theatrically. If only Nao hadn't sniggered in the background, the effect would have been quite swoon-worthy.

"But, Mr. Captor-san, I am innocent!"

I lean back and pretend to faint a bit, playing the part of beautiful demure lady scared for her life perfectly, and watch Natsuki's response through half-veiled eyes. She hesitates, unsure of what to do as my answer had clearly not been a part of her script, and I jump at the chance, "Please believe me! I will offer myself to you, my pure and untouched virginity, as a token of my sincerity, so please…"

I lean forward now, towards her, flushed lip caught between my teeth and a gentle pout apparent in my eyes. A sprinkling blush dusting my cheeks, bangs semi-shrouding downcast eyes, my shoulders pushed forward just a bit to bring attention to the swell of my breasts… I almost want to laugh at Natsuki's stuttering and her very apparent attempt at not looking where I want her to look. She almost falls onto her backside as she backpedals in horror.

"Ara, am I not desirable enough for Mr. Captor-san? How can this be? I always thought I was a beautiful girl… Oh, what will my Natsuki think, I'm just a plain, ugly girl who isn't even good enough for a nasty criminal."

And now the tears, big round drops dripping from my eyes and slipping down my cheeks. I give a little sniff as I squeeze my eyes shut and let loose the waterworks. Somewhere in the background, I can hear Nao peeing her pants laughing, but the redhead holds no interest for me. Only Natsuki's reaction matters and I watch intently as she flaps her arms around, at a complete loss for what to do, gaping like a fish, moving ever so jerkily as she tries to come up with something, anything, to stop my tears.

"Ah… um… Shizu… Shizuru, hey, I'm… I'm sorry… Shizuru?"

She's kneeling in front of me now, emerald eyes big and wide in concern, "I didn't mean to scare you or make you feel ugly or anything, honest."

I sniff and gently tilt my head up to glance at her through moist eyelashes, "Really?"

"Really." Natsuki firmly asserts, peeling off the ski mask to show me the honesty written all over her beautiful face.

"And you don't think I'm ugly?"

"N-no! I mean… No… I don't."

She's so shy now, curling into herself with the most adorable blush on her cheeks. I want to kiss her, hug her, hold her until she can't breathe. Making quick work of the rope around my wrists, I free myself and reach out, carefully brushing a stray strand of midnight blue from Natsuki's face. She looks up in shock, slack-jawed at my sudden freedom.

"When… How…?"

"Just now," I whisper, smiling, "I think Nao here had other plans that she didn't tell you about."

Natsuki moves to get up and maybe throttle the younger redhead but I catch her wrists in my hands and gently pull her back down, making her settle back onto her haunches again in front of me, gazing up to meet my eyes.

"Damn her," she says, her voice oddly subdued, and she watches me with a look that makes my breath catch, "but at least she didn't hurt you, right?"

"Was Natsuki worried about me?" I gently tease, trying to ease the mood away from the dangerous territory we'd just been encroaching upon, "It would be worth being tied up if Natsuki was just a bit worried."

"Sh-Shizuru! I was… I mean," she falls silent and looks away, awkwardly clearing her throat before turning to face me again, "I just wanted to know, and I didn't think Nao would actually help me kidnap you."

I raise one elegant eyebrow and quaintly ask, "Wanted to know? And kidnap? So you wanted to kidnap me?"

"Only to ask you until you gave me a straight answer! Nothing else, I swear."

I chuckle, "I believe you. Natsuki is, after all, very pure and innocent. And cute. She would never dare to do anything to me, because after all, I'm always the one to start the kisses."

She clamps a hand over my mouth and irately hisses, "Not here, Shizuru! Nao's still listening!"

I giggle against her hand and cheekily poke the tip of my tongue against her warm palm, watching in amusement as she recoils so fast, her wrist might snap. She glares at me.

"See? This is what I mean. I can't get a straight answer out of you unless I kidnap you."

"Ara, is that what Natsuki thinks of me? That I lie all the time?"

I pout again and watch as she scrambles for an answer, "N-No! Of course not!"

Laughing, I wrap my arms around her and pull her close, pressing her face into the crook of my neck and giggling as she squirms against me for a while before falling still, knowing it's futile to fight. We stay like that for a while and I can barely stop myself from trembling at the warmth of Natsuki's breath on my skin. I hear a scoff somewhere in the distance followed by a door slamming shut.

"I think Nao left," I murmur into Natsuki's hair and listen to her laugh breathily.

"Good riddance."

A few moments longer and Natsuki carefully slips out of my grasp, standing up and gesturing for me to follow her. Half an hour later, we're back at Fuuka and she's walking me to my dorm.

"Natsuki?"

Kicking at a pebble and watching it roll away, she turns to look at me, "Hm?"

"What was it? The thing you wanted to ask me about?"

We've reached my building and she stalls as she opens the door for me, an uncomfortable look on her face.

"Natsuki?"

"I…"

Hallways pass us by, people wave at me and I politely wave back but my attention is still on Natsuki. She seems to be insisting on wiggling embarrassingly under my gaze rather than saying what I knew she wants to say, and it isn't until we reach my door and I'm standing inside the doorway, watching her, that she finally swallows and makes as though to speak.

"I wanted to know… About the present. The box. What's inside of it, Shizuru?"

I find that I can't quite look at her eager, trusting face as she waits for an answer, fidgeting in the hallway just outside of my room, so I fake a look of reappraisal and hedge, "Ara, didn't I tell Natsuki not to open it until the right time?"

"W-well, you did, it's just…"

"You'll find out," I murmur, quieter than I think I wanted to be, "And until then, you'll just have to wait."

She stares at me for a while before huffing, "I knew you'd say that. I should have kept you locked away for longer," a soft smile playing on her lips despite her bid of indignation.

"I suppose so," I return, still too quiet.

She stands there for a bit longer, looking at me looking at her, before she finally sighs, shrugs and touches a hand to my shoulder, "I should go. I have a certain redhead I need to threaten and beat up. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Of course," I smile.

"Good."

She turns to go, and I'm mesmerized by fluttering strands of navy. I almost jerk in surprise when she suddenly calls out to me over her shoulder, "And Shizuru?"

"Yes, Natsuki?"

"When it's the right time, you better damn well tell me to open the thing, or you'll end up like Nao. Got it?"

She's gruff, but there's something hidden just underneath, "Ara, if Natsuki is old enough to beat girls up, she's old enough to figure out when to open a present, right?"

And somewhere between her yelling in frustration and her attempt at a death glare, I ease my door shut and sink to the ground, tired, slightly broken, and wishing that she wouldn't have to open it when she'd have to. Because something like that, it's something I want to be the one to gently place onto her and watch her smile, sparkling just as it would be, in her reflection.


End file.
